JACKSON’S BIRTHDAY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETHEART!
I’m sorry to miss it but I know you had a great time at your party and will have fun at school today!
Here I am in Heraklion, Crete, named after Hercules! I arrived 2 hours late as our plane had to land at Chania in the western part of Crete instead because of a problem with radar at the airport just before we landed. We sat on the plane for 2 hours. Twice they told us to take our stuff and I thought we were going to be bused the 2 hours to Heraklion. But, no, they fixed the problem and we took off again and landed maybe 15 minutes later.
Portia had been going to meet me at 5:30 but she was not around. Many planes landed all at once so we weren’t the only plane to be diverted. I waited for almost an hour and then grabbed a taxi and asked for the Prince of Lillies hotel. It was a E10 ride (even though I’m looking at the planes landing and taking off right off my balcony! Oh, well, things are MUCH more expensive in Greece since 47 years ago when I was last here.
This is a lovely hotel, has a pool that I haven’t used yet, can walk to the beach, beautiful turquoise water! I arrived and was very hungry, music was playing in the taverna so I had a wonderful dinner of lamb, potatoes (LOVE their French fries), rice and salad with a little carafe of white wine!! It was a great start to my Greek holiday!
I had to look up on the Internet to find the number of Portia’s sister-in-law. The desk person called for me and Demetri, her brother-in-law, answered but spoke only Greek. So we conveyed the message that I had arrived and was at my hotel.
Portia called back in the morning and met me at 10:30. She had waited around until 7:30 at the airport, they would not really give her any information about when or if my plane would land or even what the problem was. Another person waiting for a passenger had gotten a text message from someone on the plane about the radar.
Portia was going to an outside concert in town at 9:30 of Cretan dancing and music (sorry I missed it!) But we met up the next day, walked to the beach and swam, then walked down to Alexander’s on the beach and had a lovely lunch, catching up on all she’d been doing in the 3 weeks she’d already been here and came home. She actually met her husband, Immanuel, in the 60s when she was here with her parents (whose parents, Portia’s grandparents, came from Greece but the Pelloponesian area). It was right on this same beach where we were swimming. He was in the Greek army at the time and from Heraklion. I think it was mutual love at first sight. She came back the next year and they were married here that December. They lived here for a year and a half and then moved back to MA, near Lawrence. He ended up in the auto business, both filling stations and selling them, I think. They had two daughters (both of whom just left here Weds. With their SOs and a couple of grandchildren).She also had John, whom I met and got a golf lesson from last year. He lives in Utah. Anyway, Immanuel died very unexpectedly at 32 of an unusual heart infection and Portia raised the 3 kids by herself, teaching, doing taxes, managing property (they had property here in Heraklion for years). She’s been coming back here to visit in-laws maybe every 2 years since then. Interesting story!
We agreed to meet up that evening. I thought we had agreed to meet at 7 at the Morisini Fountain, built in 1626. I rode the town bus (E2) and found my way to the fountain. I looked up and the clock there said 8:00!! I asked someone and realized I was on Italian time and Greece is an hour later!! Had no idea what to do and was heading back to the bus when there was Portia!! She had thought maybe I waited near the bus so had walked back on the pedestrian walk way. We must have passed each other. As we walked, we passed two places where you get FISH MASSAGES on your feet! You put your feet in tanks of water where these certain kind of fish nibble the dead skin off your feet! We are DEFINITELY going to do this! The woman said she would give us both 20 minutes for E15.
We met Desmones, her husband’s sister, and her husband, Demetri, and went to an ouzo place where you drink ouzo (liked it!) and have mezedes, I think it’s called, which are like tapas in Spain. Lots of plates of fried zucchini, calamari, octopus, little fried fish – you eat the whole thing!, salad, etc. HUGE feast!! We had a wonderful time, although Portia had to do a lot of translating. I think they could understand most of the English but not speak it. Lots of cats were hovering around waiting for a handout. I surreptitiously threw them my fish head!!
Yesterday I met Portia again in town (riding the city bus mostly but sometimes taxi. You can only take the bus schedules with a grain of salt!! We rode another bus out to Knosses, the ruins of the 1500+BC Minoan civilization. More later! Gotta meet Portia!
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